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Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Ibeno youth leader calls on ex-militants to shun violence

BY ASSAM ABIA

The Obong Mkparawa 1 of Ibeno Local Government Area and Chairman Joint Core Community Contractors of ExxonMobil, Chief Friday Ebong has called on Ex-militants, specifically the so-called Bakassi Freedom Fighters to shun violence and follow the path of peace. The youth leader made the call yesterday in Ibeno in reaction to media report that the former agitators are poised to ferment trouble in Akwa Ibom State if their grievances were not attended to by the Governor of the State, Deacon Udom Emmanuel. He said the admonition became necessary because the said media report was signed by one Commander Ebong Friday and that the general public and the State government may be made to see the report as emanating from his office due to the similarity of the names. Chief Friday Ebong who is also the Chapter Youth Leader of Akwa Ibom Consolidation Alliance (ACA), Ibeno Chapter, a socio – political group that saw to the emergence of Udom Emmanuel as Governor, averred that he cannot pull down what he has helped to build over the years in the State. “Dialogue is the most effective and modern way of settling differences, if the ex-militants have any grievances against the authorities, the best way is to open a channel of dialogue instead of resorting to violence”, he said. It would be recalled that a group of ex-militants under the aegis of Bakassi Freedom Fighters last week gave the Akwa Ibom State government a one week ultimatum to address their grievances or else they disrupt activities at the Ibom Airport and Oil and Gas facilities across the State. The Ibeno Youth Leader commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for his monumental achievement within his first hundred days in office while appealing on the governor to fast track the industrialization policy of his administration for employment generation.